Regius (22 page)

If he and Galax were right,
the moment I activated the dashboard in the vehicle it would ask me
if I wanted to accept the current location of my locator. And once
it had completed its connection, the screen would reveal to me
where Solenum was.

Sitting down, I started the
engine and then opened the dashboard over on the passenger's side,
watching the small, yet elaborate computer, unfold. As it turned
on, I buckled up and closed the door: the excitement, fear and
nerves multiplying in strength.

What was I doing? I'd be
breaking a lot of laws; I'd be on the run. How could Datura believe
I could even do this?! I was untrained and without any experience.
Would I be of any help to Solenum?

I jumped in surprise as the
computer suddenly spoke.

"Do you accept the current
location of your locator to be your primary base?"

Looking over my shoulder
carefully because it felt like I was doing something bad, which I
knew I was, I then locked my jaw and just pressed the accept
button. This was Solenum. I
had
to do something. Galax was by far the more likely
hero; he'd have a chance at surviving. Unfortunately, he was stuck
in the cells and the next best thing to help Sol out of her
conundrum was in the cells as well. Which left me. Her best friend.
An untrained soldier that had bizarre powers connected back to the
Seers. Completely and utterly uncontrolled.

I stared as a map popped
up on the screen and dragged itself upwards out of the Meadows of
Serenium and out of Altor and Pallium districts entirely. My lips
parted in shock as it glided straight into Regius territory and my
eyes widened as I stared at the red dot glowing on the map in the
high north of the Wastelands of Xenon. It was past Iodin City,
further up than the Sunken Cities, surrounded by
Immortalis Silva.

"Solenum..." My breathing
picked up in speed as I leaned to my side, squeezing myself between
the two front seats to dig up a paper and pen in the pocket behind
the passenger seat. Sitting back up properly, eyes wide, I
scribbled the location on the piece of paper. If she was the one
who put my car together, that meant the locator had to be with her
still. Which meant she'd turned it on after she'd gotten kidnapped.
That meant she'd tried to contact us in some way just like Galax
had figured.

With the red dot glowing on
the screen, his guess was now a fact. Solenum was still alive and
had gotten the chance to divulge the location of the Regius base
and ultimately hers as well by turning the locator on. Of course
there was also a chance the Regius were tricking us in some manner.
While I would keep that in mind, I was not going to let this pass
by.

I stared out the front
window, holding onto the piece of paper tightly. I wasn’t surprised
it was placed in
Immortalis
Silva
, that had been a given. None could
get through
Immortalis Silva’s
labyrinth without getting lost, not unless you
knew where you were going. Darting my eyes down, I reached over and
hovered my fingertip over the red dot that showed me where my
locator was.

Should I warn the others?
The Elders? The Altors in general? The Palliums? Yes. I should tell
them that I was nearly ninety percent certain to have located the
Regius base. But then what? Warn the Palliums, wait for everyone to
assemble? That could take days. Did Solenum have days? Datura and
Galax seemed to believe she didn't.

Inhaling and exhaling
shakily, I left the computer on, not wanting to risk turning it
off; even though I had the location scribbled out on paper and
could enter it into the GPS. Determined and mind made up, I let my
eyes take in what had become my home in these many weeks. There was
a chance I would die. Coming out of this alive was very unlikely.
But I'd rather die trying to help her than sit here and wait for
news that would tell me she was dead.

Settling my weapons on the
passenger seat, I grasped the steering wheel and drove down the
first hill and away from the Coliseum.

Nobody would stop me. Aram
was in the cells, having no idea the Jansen's had permitted me to
go out for a drive and Caltha was assured I wouldn't leave this
place unless Datura did. The only person who'd have doubted my
motives for wanting to test my car while having been battered with
a lot of revelations considering my origin and Solenum's
whereabouts, was Ilex. Which is why I was leaving before he
returned with Vervaine.

* * * *

"How deep is that?" I asked
carefully, staring at the black pit of nothingness down
below.

"Doesn't say. Which
probably means very deep." Robinia answered.

Sighing, I took a step back
and then scanned the ropes again. "Simple, right? I need to jump
from one rope to the other, repeating that until I make it to the
other side." I could do that.

"Yes. With limited time."
He added. "The ropes come out of knobs like the one you cut
earlier. Swinging from one rope to another just seems too easy.
When you started cutting off the rope earlier I wanted to tell you
that you could have simply pressed the button on the side of that
knob, which would have effectively detached it without having to
violently hack into it with a pocket knife." He paused, because he
liked to piss me off. "But you're Altor. You guys are stubborn and
don't like to be interrupted."

"Kowalski..." I
warned.

"See, stubborn. Anyway,
check out those small green flicks of light that pop on and off on
those knobs. That means they are activated, which the knob in the
fire alley wasn't. It was red and locked." He sighed very heavily.
"I believe you only get a small amount of time to swing yourself
from one rope to the next before the knob lets go of the rope,
effectively-"

"Effectively dropping me
into oblivion." I finished. "Is there any way I can just not
believe you and make that become the truth of things?"

"I'm afraid
not."

"There's no way to test
this one without something other than myself, is there?"

"Good luck, my friend." He
offered.

Calycanthus better be
suffering the same as I was. I didn't really mean that. I didn't
want him to get hurt, but this was just royally unfair. Less than
five months ago I'd still been in Lithium Village, worrying about
the tournament and whining about clothes that didn't fit me.
Everything had changed when Acacia was murdered. I'd known it
would, I'd felt it coming, that something was going to happen. But
this? All of this? I would have never guessed.

Moving over to the railing,
I reached out and pulled the first rope towards me.

"Don't test its stability."
He suggested. I shook my head in amusement for him believing me to
be an idiot before proceeding.

"Where is Mallow?" I
wondered, not quite ready to start jumping yet.

"She never comes to see
me." Was she the
certain someone
he tried to ask to dinner? "She rarely leaves her
conservatory. If Sage knew that sometimes she did..." Robinia
sighed. "Mallow is strange, you know. Sometimes she says things I
don't understand. If I weren't unsure about my own sanity, I'd
question hers." He laughed softly, surprising me with the sweet
sound. "But even if I wasn't partly crazy, I believe I'd still love
her. She is the only one in this castle that knows what kindness
truly is."

"She's Seer, Robinia, and
she uses her curse. She's not exactly stable." I hoped that would
make him feel less bad about her rejecting him. Having met Mallow,
even if for a few hours, I was pretty certain she'd declined his
offers because she wasn't aware of how Kowalski felt for
her.

"I wish she would think of
me." He murmured. "Think of me so she could see through her gift
I'm not a bad guy." He wasn't a bad guy.

"Maybe when all three of us
get out of here, the time will be right and she'll accept your
dinner proposals."

"You want us to come with
you?" He asked, surprised.

"I know it'll be hard.
She's highly guarded by Sage and Xania knows you are valuable to
him so I would assume it would be difficult for you to just walk
out of here. But I'm in a dungeon and neither of you are giving up
on me. So if my situation is more dreary than both of yours
combined, why shouldn't I believe it to be possible for you, Mallow
and me to get out of here together,
alive?
" Breathing out as I climbed
up onto the railing, balancing myself rather clumsily on the narrow
edge, I held onto the rope. "She does trust you, Robinia. Why else
would she tell me to trust you if she didn't herself?" The utter
darkness screamed at me from below, beckoning me to just stop this
battle for survival.

"Your courage and
determination to remain alive in a place such as the dungeon is
inspiring, Solenum. Maybe I will allow myself to start
dreaming."

I smiled at his words
before focusing on what lay ahead. "Here goes nothing." I threw
myself off the edge, swinging along with the rope towards the next
one.

"Jump!" Robinia
shouted.

I felt the rope give in,
the knob releasing its hold. Letting go, I jumped to the next rope,
my previous swing and my own weight had given me enough speed so I
could make it. Grabbing a hold of it, I flung my feet forward,
hoping this would help give me some more speed as I aimed for the
third rope. Never looking down, I made it onto the third one,
seeing I only had two more to go.

I could do this. I was
doing it. Swinging to the one before last, I caught it and then
didn't waste any time in flinging myself to the very last rope, the
balcony so close.

When I grasped it though, I
didn't have time to swing myself forward, the knob gave away
instantly. Robinia screamed in fear through the speakers, his voice
echoing loudly through the cave, the fright making its way into my
heart as I realized I was about to die. Gasping, I quickly moved my
hands so I could create a loop in the rope, launching it upwards.
It caught around the balcony's railing, and I gritted my teeth
tightly as I knew my own weight would be insane on my hands once I
stopped falling. And indeed it was. I winced as the pain radiated
through my palms, the loop had done the trick, but my fingers had
slid downwards the moment my weight had settled, my skin burning on
the rough texture of rope.

"Gratias ago cos Creatura
of Satus."

He was thanking the
Creatures of Origin. As I dangled in the air, I realized how I
missed them, their beauty and innocence. Shaking my head, I climbed
up, whimpering as the rope dug into my wounded palms. It wasn’t
long before I managed to get myself over the railing and I
instantly flipped around, lying flat on my back as I stared at the
ceiling, my breathing unsteady as my heart tried to pound its way
out of my chest.

"There was a net before."
Robinia said breathlessly, sounding as upset as I felt. "The Altors
had a net hanging below the ropes so that if someone fell during
training, they'd be caught instead of dying by dropping down into
the unfamiliar." I wasn't surprised the Regius had taken it
away.

"Show me your palms." He
asked gently. Not saying a word, I lifted my hands towards the
large double door behind me, knowing the camera would be right
above it. "We need to get that cleaned up before it gets infected."
Sighing, I let my hands fall back down onto my stomach.

"What do you suggest? A
potion? Some magical kind of powder we can snatch in the Ranger's
Alley down in Cobalt City? Those aren't available here, Robinia."
My voice was dead, hollow. "Xania will never allow it."

"You're a strong person,
Solenum, you'll get through this." He murmured. "If not alive, take
pride in the fact that you are the first one to stand up against
the Steward." I wanted to smile at his words, but I burst out in
tears instead, the fright I’d felt earlier finally catching up with
me.

"What does it all matter,
Robinia? Why am I fighting for something I can't win?"

"You're fighting to keep
your friends safe."

I hiccupped, trying to tone
down my sobs as I sat up and turned around so I could face the
camera.

"That's true, but why don't
I just jump off the balcony? Xania wouldn't be able to get the
answers he wants that way and I wouldn't have to continue with..."
I gestured. "This!"

"Because you have faith.
Hold on to that as long as you can, otherwise you might end up
loony like myself." The kid said softly.

I shook my head. "You do
have hope, Robinia. You're hoping I will make it out of this place
alive. You fear for me when I find myself in dangerous situations.
You help me. I..." Sighing, I offered him a watery smile. "Thank
you."

"You're welcome." Nodding
absently back at him, I looked down and began rubbing the dirt out
of my burnt and cut up palms.

"Where will I be sleeping
tonight?" I sincerely hoped I got another one of those rooms. I
could really use a bath and a good night of sleep. Waiting for his
reply, I dug out the handkerchief I had in my back pocket and then
the bottle of water, so I could moisten the fabric. I dabbed the
wet cloth on my hand, and sighed at the dirt fading.